Gulls Seek Revenge in Tucson
Mar 11, 2020The San Diego Gulls conclude a club-record seven-game, 15-day road trip tonight against the Tucson Roadrunners at Tucson Arena (7:05 p.m. PT, TV: AHLTV, RADIO: Gulls Audio Network). Tonight also marks the final regular season meeting between Tucson and San Diego, with the Gulls posting a 3-4-0-0 record against their Pacific Division foes.
Tucson opened this week's back-to-back series with a 3-0 win last night. Adin Hill stopped all 26 shots fired his way, recording his second shutout of the season. Kyle Capobianco and Beau Bennett led the way offensively, recording multi-point performances to help the division-leading Roadrunners build a five-point cushion over both the Colorado Eagles and Stockton Heat.
Despite a first period filled with good scoring chances, the Gulls couldn't break through, watching their four-game point streak end with the regulation loss.
"I thought the first half of the game we played very well," veteran center Chris Mueller said following the game. "We had a lot of grade-A chances, played our system and didn’t give them much. We ran into some undisciplined penalties and they’re a good, skilled team on the power play. They get one on the power play to close out the second. It’s kind of hard to catch up from there. The first 30 minutes of the game, I thought we controlled it and I thought we had great chances. Credit to their goalie, I thought he played well, but I think we can be happy with our game the first half. We just have to work on our discipline for sure."
Discipline - and playing with controlled emotion - are focal points for San Diego tonight. The team took four minor penalties in just 3:43, fueling Tucson's offense. The Gulls saw a one-goal game quickly turn into a three-goal deficit.
"I think we have to start and play with emotion, a controlled emotion is key for us," head coach Kevin Dineen said following the loss. "I think if we do that, that is important and I think we need everybody going. I don’t know if we had the whole crew here tonight, and that doesn’t mean playing on a physical side. I think we needed all of our components going to have success."
Despite the setback, San Diego enters tonight with points in nine of its last 11 games. The team also recorded points in 16 of its last 19 games (12-2-4-0) and 25 of the last 32 (19-7-5-1).
The Gulls close their 19th set of back-to-back contests tonight. Overall, San Diego is 20-12-4-1 in these scenarios, with an impressive 11-4-3-1 record in the second game.